The Bishop of Norwich asked a question on funding to aid in tackling the issue of derelict boats in rivers and estuaries on 19th June 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Norwich: My Lords, the Broads Authority has had to spend £70,000 this year to raise two sunken boats in the Norfolk Broads. Will the Minister progress the recommendation in Defra’s Landscapes Review to remove the unnecessary complexities placed on the Broads Authority to account separately for income and expenditure from national park grant and from navigation, which would certainly enable the Broads Authority to undertake such work in a less complex way?
The Bishop of Manchester asked a question on the factor of poor police response to incidences of child sexual abuse on 18th June 2025, in response to a government statement on the Casey Report on child sexual exploitation and grooming gangs:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I declare my interest as co-chair of the national police ethics committee. Despite the fact that the very first recommendation of the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, was that we must see children as children, it has really taken until tonight in this House for much of the conversation to move into that area. This was a point made by Sir Stephen Watson, the chief constable of Greater Manchester, at an event I attended earlier today. He has talked about how much of the failure to prosecute was down to police forces treating abused children not as victims but as somehow culpable in their own abuse. I thank the Minister for already confirming that we will have a victim-centred approach to this inquiry. Can he assure us that the inquiry will explore Sir Stephen’s point, including through the data it collects, so that we can determine to what extent it was a poor response by police forces to the victims of these serious multiple rapes that lies behind the failure to prosecute and convict? Does he agree with me that this is far better than just lazily assuming, as the media seem to be doing, that every single failure comes down to questions of the ethnicity of perpetrators?
The Bishop of London asked a question on ensuring fair pay, hours, and pensions for social care workers on 18th June 2025:
The Lord Bishop of London: My Lords, as we have heard, concerns around low pay and insecure contracts are long-standing in the social care sector. The Minister made mention of the fair pay agreement; can she explain how this will ensure that a living wage, living hours and living pensions will be paid to staff among the private social care providers?
The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answers on 18th June 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the guidance to businesses trading in produce originating from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
On 17th June 2025, the House of Lords debated the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in support of amendments to the bill that would ensure safeguards and limits on deprivation of liberty for children:
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I have added my name to a number of the amendments in this group; I could probably have added it to all of them. Like other noble Lords, I am very grateful for the work of the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, which has been quoted several times. I am ignoring all the careful facts and figures I had prepared for this evening, because most of them have already been given by other noble Lords, and it is a principle here that we do not repeat what has already been said. Rather, I would like to speak to the broad principles and the moral case, and to be brief.
The Bishop of London asked a question on growing the workforce in the field of learning disability nursing on 17th June 2025:
The Lord Bishop of London: My Lords, the NHS England 2025 best practice guide has a number of suggestions for growing the learning disability nursing workforce, including requiring CQC-registered providers to provide staff with training for learning disabilities and autism. Can the Minister say what the Government are doing to ensure that this is implemented equitably across the integrated care systems?
On 17th June 2025, Marsha De Cordova MP, on behalf of the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP:
Church of England: Slavery
Katie Lam MP (Con, Weald of Kent): To ask the hon. Member for Battersea, representing the Church Commissioners, pursuant to the Answer of 6 May 2025 to Question 47116 on Church of England: Slavery, when the Church Commissioners plan to submit an application to authorise an ex-gratia payment for Project Spire under section 106 of the Charities Act 2011.
The Bishop of Southwark received the following written answers on 17th June 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Southwark asked His Majesty’s Government:
whether they will meet members of Save the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem; and what support, if any, they are providing to the campaign of preventing the takeover of Armenian property in the Old City of Jerusalem.
whether they will take steps to ensure there are no changes to the shape of the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem that would be illegal.
The Bishop of Gloucester received the following written answer on 17th June 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Israeli Defence Force’s reported use of the ‘Dahiya Doctrine’, the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure; and of whether it is compatible with international humanitarian law.
The Bishop of Bristol received the following written answer on 17th June 2025:
The Lord Bishop of Bristol asked His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the increase to the immigration health surcharge by 66 per cent in 2024.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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